


Memories

by AWillfullDroll



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, F/M, Self-Sacrifice, Valentine's Day, various oc's - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:15:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29547120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AWillfullDroll/pseuds/AWillfullDroll
Summary: Decades after her murder, Callum's quest for vengeance is almost over. Just a handful of people left to kill.
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 27
Kudos: 23





	1. Memories of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so trying to post via phone. Had to be hand typed on phone.  
> Not bog you down with everything, but my area got eight inches of snow. Power came back on after eight hours, but no internet since... Monday.

Callum could only watch him younger self open the door. He had this nightmare, this memory, countless times over the years. The anger, despair, dread, and horror that once routinely assaulted him was no where to be felt. He felt almost nothing anymore, nothing but his sworn duty and desire. He had promised, at her grave to do whatever he could to make sure that you his happened to no one else. That he would protect the innocent and kill the guilty.

His own guilt that he felt over his inability to protect those he loved was long gone as well. As usual, he was glad as the door opened to reveal the interior of the house he shared with Rayla. The walls were painted a reddish brown, and an awful stench hung in the air.

At first he had thought it was a Valentines surprise, and it was a red concoction made from a Xadian plant. He watched as the man in front of him figured out that it was blood.

Callum didn't hear the scream, but he remembered it. The fear and terror as he screamed out his pregnant wife's name.

The flowers and the basket were released from his hands as he ran into another room. Callum only felt numb as his younger self screamed at sight of Rayla's head on the table.

He could still remember the buzzing of flies around her head. Her eyes wide open, with colorless and pale irises. Rayla's mouth hung open in a soundless scream.

Shaking hands pulled his wife's head of the table with a squelch. Callum closed his eyes, not wishing to watch himself cradling Rayla's head. He could almost hear the sobs and screams that he put out that day.

"Rayla," Callum found himself whispering, as the message Claudia had written in Rayla's blood above their bed played through his head. "I'm almost done, Rayla. I'm so close to joining you and our child. I'll see you soon, my love."

The memory quickly faded as a dream took it's place. He felt a soft bed under him and smiled gently as he opened his eyes. Callum quickly recognized their old room in the castle. In the days right after they got married, before they moved out.

Rayla rapidly appeared in front of him, her trademark smirk adorning her face she slowly strolled towards their bed. She sashayed her hips, and paused frequently. Giving him every opportunity to absorb her nude forme. _This is how I would rather remember you, Rayla._

Rayla's smirk grew larger as she climbed into the bed and quickly cuddled into him. Her mere touch sent euphoria running through his veins, and the feel of her arm draped across his chest and her forehead against his... Callum felt complete.

Callum again closed his eyes, and simply savoured the feeling of his wife against him. This was the only time that he was happy anymore, here with her, in his dreams. The familiar, bitter-sweet pang in his was still there, though heavily numbed by the years.

"I miss you, Rayla, so much." Callum's voice wavered for a second as he struggled with decades of pain.

Rayla giggled from her place next to him and gently kissed his lips. "What are you talking about, loud mage? I was only gone for a few minutes!"

"Mmm, so you were," Callum chuckled as he opened his eyes. His gaze met his wife's purple eyes, catching the twinkle in her eye. "It just feels like longer without my moon by me."

Rayla leaned in again and put her lips to his. He eagerly returned the kiss, which only encouraged his wife to lean into him and kiss him more passionately. As his tongue slid between her lips she moaned.

"Oh, Callum."

And then she was gone. Leaving only of the phantom of her body him. The heat fading rapidly from his side as her moan echoed in his ears, the ghost her lips lingered on his, and her scent haunted haunted his nostrils.

He struggled to hold onto the lingering traces of her as he opened his eyes. He stared at the canvas of his tent, holding his breath, trying to keep the spell his dream had put over him. But Callum was eventually forced to inhale. Dispelling the faint scent of his wife, and the residual vestiges of her body against his faded even before his lungs filled. Leaving him feeling empty and numb again. He was nothing more than a shell, a shell that knew only two things. He was going to kill every dark mage. He had to, that was his destiny, to purify the world. Then he could die, die and join his wife and unborn child. He would prevent anyone else from feeling his pain, then he could move on.

And he was almost done. The last Dark Mages were gathered here, in the Pawprint Isles. Gathering for extermination. They even carried the last tomes of dark magic. He could rest after today, and dark magic would be exterminated. All proof and instruction of it would be gone. All items that reeked of it were already gone. Humanity, Dragons, and elves would finally be safe from it’s tyranny.

Callum had begun his crusade right after Rayla's death. He funded his anger by spending two decades teaching primal magic. Surreptitiously hunting dark mages the whole time. But as the number of primal mages grew, he threw himself fully into hunting them. He even found Claudia.

But she hadn’t been idle either. She had gathered all the dark mages into a guild. They hid behind the greatest lords of humanity. Even Ezran, his own brother, had protected them. But Callum had outsmarted him. He renounced everything fifteen years ago.

The few emotions he felt vanished as he sat up. It was time to finish his work. _To quote a famous poet… ‘It is said that there is a time to live and a time for death to reign. Now is the latter.’_


	2. Memories of the Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The remains of the Dark Magic Guild huddle in their last remaining safe haven. Knowing that ex-Prince Callum will come for them soon, then all will be lost. Or will it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright a shorter chapter, but a fun one. Give you the opposing view.

**_ Less than a mile away… _ **

Yonnivan took a deep breath before opening his eyes. He took in the scared faces around the table. It was empty as could be. The fifteen people here, were the last Dark Mages left. Their guild was nearly destroyed, the art of dark magic, nearly exterminated. In part due to the rising power of the primal guilds, but more so due to the monster who had been murdering Dark Mages for thirty years. They weren’t monsters, not anymore. The use of sentient creatures was very limited, with most off limits entirely. Non sentient ingredients had to be farmed aside from wild harvest. Parts from Human primal mages, elves, dragons, and unicorns were strictly off limits under all cases.

They didn’t deserve this. They were reformed, and many of the guild’s members, had grown up under the rules. Less than a dozen of their members had been alive and practiced like Lord Viren had. Most of the people from that time converted their practices at the urging of the guild’s dearly departed founder, Lady Claudia.

Yonnivan thought about all the friends he had lost over the last fifteen years, the mentors. He looked to the red headed Eveneran woman sitting close by. Jessin, his fiancé… She had lost so much. Her entirely family, and guild branch was butchered in Berylgarten. She barely managed to escape Metrom as a fifteen-year-old girl. He had been to busy killing her younger siblings who attacked him.

Anger welled up inside as he thought about all the loss everybody at the table had suffered as of late. The family and friends lost, horrors witnessed at coming back from a job to find your guild mates dead. He could still remember when he and his master returned to the Katolis guild hall after a job. The walls soaked in blood, bodies torn into shreds, with bits and pieces every where. The moment when he, after slipping in a puddle of congealed blood, found himself staring into a lone eyeball was seared into his memory.

“We have to do something! Now!” he shouted at the others around the table.

“What are we supposed to do? Did you forget what happened in Berylgarten?!” shouted back his longtime colleague, Jessin. Her voice cracking with emotion as she shouted.

“Better to die fighting Metrom than to live in fear for when he comes!” Another man argued in his favor.

“Shut the fuck up Vebon! You have only been a member of the council for a few months-” Jessin screamed back, her red hair flying as her whipped around to stare at his unexpected defender.

“So?!?! I am just as equal of a member of the Mages guild as you! You sack of shi-”

“ENOUGH!” shouted an angry voice. “You are all acting like petulant children!”

Yonnivan’s eyes moved like everyone’s, to focus on the source of the outburst. The only man to have gotten survived Metrom, let alone injure the monster. He took three of the man’s fingers, though his own ability to move was lost in the exchange. This man was a hero, not only to him but the rest of the Dark Mage’s Guild. Khomias was their undisputed leader for a reason.

Khomias glared angrily at him and Jessin, making Yonnivan shrink back, while Jessin only rose to meet his gaze. Shame burned on his face as he shied away from his father figure’s angry gaze. He was right, they were all acting like children. They were the Dark Mages Guild, meant to be dignified. They were the original defenders of humanity, now returned to their original purpose. Fertilizing barren fields, healing the sick and injured, and doing the one thing that made dark magic superior to Primal magic. Dark magic could create life. It was how the queen of Duren and Katolis, Aanya was born. After all, even the elves agreed these days. What is the life of a few dozens moths, or even a shadowpaw against that of an elf or human?

“None of us can fight him, Khomias. Metrom is death incarnate, I was at Berylgarten. I watched as he murdered Dadeena, Joris, and Kareshi. The three of them were as powerful as every body who is still alive, combined.”

Khomias was calm as he replied, his glare softening slightly. “I know, Jessin. I know what Metrom is capable of. But I have some that none of them did. A plan, and an ultimate source of power. And I will do everything I can to save our guild. That man has only one weakness, and we are going to exploit it. But we have to break our rules to do it… I have to break our rules, our promises, and use something still living.

Yonnivan felt his blood chill in his veins as Verbon spoke.

“You- You can’t be serious, Khomias! What if you don’t kill him?”

“I don’t have to kill him.” Khomias replied mysteriously as he pulled a necklace out from under his shirt. Yonnivan quickly recognized the necklace by the two shriveled and preserved fingers on it, and the rune covered ring on one. The fingers of Metrom…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will probably be 3 chapters. May go as far as five, but I doubt that.
> 
> Fun fact, Metrom would be the dark magic pronunciation of Mortem, which is Latin for "Death".


	3. Memories of Sacrifice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The remnants of the Dark Mages guild prepare for a last stand, and Callumm assaults the Guild Hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all like, this is entry three out of four.

“Wh-what do you mean, Khomias?” Yonnivan asked, afraid to hear his mentor’s answer as everyone else fell silent.

“Long ago, our founder took the heart of Metrom, turning a peace-loving man, into one consumed by hate and vengeance. He vowed that no one would ever suffer like he did. Our founder came to regret her actions, it’s why she founded the guild and set out the rules. But when he found her, his transformation into Metrom was complete.” Khomias replied. “She offered her life in exchange for the Guild’s. He laughed before murdering Lady Claudia. I will restore his heart to him, hopefully freeing him from his hatred and anger. And saving you all.”

“Saving us? What about you?” Yonnivan asked, as worry flooded him, and his heart grew heavy with sadness as he guessed his mentor’s intent.

“The fingers of Metrom that I have left… They are not enough. So, I will use all of my life force and my primal connection.”

“Don’t be silly,” Jessin scoffed, “You aren’t magical, your life force is useless, Khomias!”

The forty-year-old, black haired man never looked away from Yonnivan, his yellow gaze seemed to almost glow. “My life force is not, useless. My father was a star-touched elf, and my mother, a human. I will save our guild. Once Metrom’s heart is restored, he will return to be being Prince Callum. I am confident of it.”

“So, you expect to believe that Metrom has been walking around without a heart all these years?” Jessin asked as realization dawn on Yonnivan.

“It’s not his literal heart, Jessin.” He said softly, cutting in. “It’s his wife. Princess Rayla. She was murdered nearly thirty years ago… D-Do you mean that Lady Claudia killed the Princess of Katolis? Our-our founder brought him down on us?”

Callum looked at the door and smiled. The snakes hiding behind it had layered it with traps, but that didn’t matter. They couldn’t stop him. Not now.

He pointed at the door and laughed softly. He could do magic as the dragons did, almost entirely by thought. That was his power now, the power he would bring against evil with full force.

“Aspiro!” He commanded, sending the large oaken doors flying off the hinges, triggering a multitude of trap spells and runes. A mixture of dark and Primal magics. Ice shards flew everywhere as bolts of lightning arced upwards from the ground. All the magic froze and dissipated as he growled out “Dissipare!”

Callum entered the building with a smirk, his heart pounding a little faster. He would be done after today. Then he could go to an eternal rest. He could be with Rayla again.

He laughed again as a man and a woman appeared. He barely took note of them, before instinct took over. His three-fingered right hand extended, pointing at the woman. “Mortem.”

Despite his duty, Callum took no glee in watching the woman keel over dead. But he felt no regret. No sense of loss. It had to be done. He could smell the dark magic on her from several dozen feet away. He had to erase dark magic, no exceptions.

The man charged him with something in his hand. Callum heard the squelching as he squished it. He raised a finger and looked at the man. “Frigore Sanguis.”

The man froze in as his body swelled, within a second of casting the spell, the man exploded into a pink mist. The frozen crystals of his blood reflected light and forming a brief rainbow before the mist settled to the ground. A third man darted into his view from the side, screaming wielding a blade.

Callum dodged several wild swings before delivering a kick to his chest and staggering him. Backing up several feet, he pointed at the man and barked, “Ulcus Sanguinem.”

His attacker arched his back up and screamed at the ceiling before he exploded into a warm mist. Callum didn’t flinch and the warm mist settled on his skin. He felt like he was under the sun on a warm day, with the sun gently warming his skin.

Callum checked each room as he passed finding three more. One he incinerated in a fire ball, and the other two he froze and shattered into thousands of pieces. A fourth tried to drop on him from above, but a quickly drawn _stalagmites_ rune left his would be assassin impaled on an earthen spike, as their blood showered him from above.

_Seven by my count. I know that there is no more than twenty, but no less than thirteen. So anywhere from six to thirteen mages left. Then I can rest. Only a few more villains to execute. Keep going Callum, for a pure world._

“Rayla… I’m coming. I’ll see you soon, my love” Callum whispered as he found and dealt with two more people in another room.

Yonnivan sighed as he looked to Vobin and Jessin. “That’s the last of the links. It’s just us, and Khomias. We have to hold the line, buy him time for whatever he is doing.”

He caught Vobin staring at the door with disgust. “What he’s doing… Yonnivan… It’s a violation.”

“He’s doing what he has to, Vobin.” Yonnivan found himself replying as his gaze shifted to his fiancé.

Jessin wore a grim look on her face, a look that almost broke his heart. She looked sad, depressed, and disappointed. In both herself and him. “Jessin, I-I love you.”

The redhead smiled softly at him, her voice wavering, “I know, Yon, my love.”

Yonnivan closed the distance between them and embraced her. “We’ll be okay. Khomias will save us. He has never failed.”

Callum pointed at the door and commanded _Aspiro_ , blowing the door off it’s hinges. He entered the room quickly, seeing the door embedded in the opposing wall with blood spatter along the edges and stretching across the wall.

Scanning the room, his eyes quickly settled on a door from under which a dark purple smoke seeped. He glanced up to witness a redhead woman and a dark-haired man embracing as they stared at him with wide eyes. He recognized the woman. She was older, but was definitely one the escapees from Berylgarten, five years prior. And the man looked eerily familiar, almost like…

Callum froze for a second as he realized who the man looked like. He looked a human version of Aaravos. This was Claudia’s youngest child, Yonnivan.

“Yonnivan… So, you exist.” Callum glowered. The same child for whose sake she had begged Callum to spare her for

The man merely blubbered at him, though the woman stepped forward and firmly places herself between them. “You killed people I loved at Berylgarten, Metrom. I won’t let you kill anyone else!”

“That is not your choice,” Callum growled, before levying a finger at her.

“FUCK YOU!” The girl screamed before Callum heard a squelch. “mih nru-”

Callum was quicker though, finishing his spell before her, “Frigore Sanguis!”

The redhead’s voice faltered, as her eyes widened before she exploded into the familiar ice dust.

Yonnivan was in shock. His fiancé was gone. Rainbow hung in the air in her place, and he felt cold liquid cover his face.

“J-Je-Jessin?” Only silence answered him.

“Je-Jessin, love?” His gazed turned to the monster. The monster that knew his name.

“Where is she? Wh-Where’s my fiancée!?”

Metrom looked at with a sympathetic look. “Covering you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone wondering why people were exploding, "Frigore Sanguis" would be, "Blood Freeze", freezing al the blood and liquid in your body into ice. As water freezes, it expands, hence causing the explosion.  
> "Ulcus Sanguinem" would be "Blood boil", literally boiling the victim's blood and water in their body. The super heated gas can't escape and the pressure build until their body explodes.
> 
> I'm sure that at least one of you has/are thinking, "Huh, seems like Callum is a blood bender".
> 
> I'll see you all soon for the finale, Chapter 4.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked, there is more coming.
> 
> Update: I got internet back! After six days.


End file.
